Tag Archives: The Ties That Bind

To mark the end of our exhibition at The Scottish National Portrait Gallery, The Ties That Bind – we are off on the road again to present our work and work by photographers we admire to new audiences in Scotland. April 27th will see us in Skye – at the wonderful ATLAS Arts – if you’re nearby please do come along and join us.

The event is free – as ever – and all are welcome – see more information here

When The Ties That Bind exhibition at The Scottish National Portrait Gallery was in the planning stages, it was agreed between each of us at Document Scotland and the galleries that we would write a blog post to accompany our work – each of us approached this task differently, with a different emphasis and subject matter – but each of the posts reflect our thinking and extended research around our subject matter. Here’s Stephen’s post – this is just a screen grab but you can read the full text by clicking on the image below… we hope you enjoy reading it!

Our Salon events for 2016 start next month, and we are delighted to be partnering with the University of Highlands and Islands to bring you events across Scotland. On the 18th February 2016 we will be hosting an event from Perth College which will be streamed live to venues across Scotland.

On Thursday 14th January 2016 Anne Lyden, International Photography Curator of our exhibition “The Ties That Bind” currently on at The Scottish National Portrait Gallery, will lead a tour of the exhibition from 5pm – 5:30pm.

Malcolm Dickson, director of Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow will give a lunchtime talk on 13th January at The Scottish National Galleries to accompany our exhibition “The Ties That Bind” currently on at The Scottish National Portrait Gallery. All are welcome – this event is FREE.

This month Document Scotland’s exhibition ‘The Ties That Bind’ at The Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh has been featured on BBC TV and Radio. Sophie was filmed talking about her long term project about women, farming and the landscape, ‘Drawn To The Land’ on BBC1’s Landward and was interviewed for Radio Scotland’s Out of Doors program. Watch and listen again here…. !

BBC Landward

Sophie spent a very wet and windy couple of days filming with the wonderful Sybil MacPherson, a hillfarmer in Argyll with the crew from BBC Landward. You can see the film here, with Sophie talking about her work with the presenter Sarah Mack from about 22:00 minutes in.

Watch the episode of BBC Landward on BBC iPlayer now.

“I’m delighted that Landward were interested in my project, after long discussions with the producer, Clare who had visited the exhibition and was curious about the work, we arranged a couple of days in November when we could meet with Sybil and do some filming on her remote and beautiful hillfarm near Dalmally. Sybil’s story and her relationship with the land she works and farms is fascinating. The 5 munros which make up her farm have been farmed by her family for over 175 year. There are ruins on the hill where her grandfather went to school. It’s a place full of history and full of connection which is why I thought it would be great to hear more from Sybil and introduce her to the Landward team. The fact that it turned out to be the wettest day I’ve seen in Argyll for some time wasn’t ideal – that it doesn’t even look that bad on tv is annoying!”

“Having never done any TV before I was struck by how long everything took – there was quite a lot of back and forth, re-shooting, “say that again”, “drive over that bridge again and again”. So I’m hugely grateful to Sybil for taking time out of her busy week to allow this piece to be filmed. It was interesting seeing how it all worked, piecing together the parts of the interview and also seeing how they would include my photographs in the piece.”

“I hope what the filming does is introduce the project and my reasons behind shooting it. Women are under represented in farming. Commonly referred to as ‘farmers’ wives’ and seen as having a behind the scenes role. Sybil and the other women in my project are front and centre, they make life and death decisions every day. They are engineers, midwives, business women, decision makers and forward thinkers. The common sense of responsibility for the work they do, and to the landscape and the livestock is something that all the women in my project share. All of them talk as custodians, of having a sense that they are looking after this land for future generations. I have a huge respect for them and the work they do. It’s been a privilege and an honour to work with them and I look forward to continuing the project.”

BBC Out Of Doors

Sophie met with journalist Claire White of BBC Radio Scotland at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery to talk some more about her experience of photographing the 6 women included in the project over the last 2 and a half years. You can listen to this interview here, Sophie and Claire discus ‘Drawn To The Land’ from about 7:38 minutes in.

Listen to the episode of BBC Scotland ‘Out of Doors’ on BBC Radio iPlayer now.

Claire White from BBC Radio Scotland interviewing Sophie at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery

“I really enjoyed talking to Claire from Out of Doors about my work. Claire and I spent a really short time in the gallery talking about the work. I’ve done a little bit of radio before, and I’ve interviewed people many time using voice recorders – this just felt a much more comfortable way of talking to the media about my work.

Claire asked some really interesting questions, and picked up on some important aspects of the work. It’s always interesting meeting people who are interested in my work, and who then spot things in the work, or pick up on visual clues within images. Claire certainly did that, and in the interview you can hear her reading the clusters of images on the wall and getting an impression of the women I’ve photographed.

I was grateful for the time she took, and the interest in the project. I hope this reaches an audience who might want to come and see the work at the Portrait Gallery or look at it on my website, and take a little time to get know these women and their stories.

Thank you Claire and your team for the feature.”

Sophie with Claire White from BBC Scotland Out Of Doors, at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Thank you BBC1 and BBC Radio Scotland for featuring Drawn To The Land, both programs are available on iPlayer.

Document Scotland’s latest exhibition – The Ties That Bind, curated by Anne Lyden and currently on at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery has now been open for over a month. We have been absolutely overwhelmed with the response. Thank you all of you who have already visited – and to those of you who haven’t had the chance – it’s on until 24th April 2016 so there’s plenty of time.

The film is intended for broadcast on the BBC terrestrial television, so you might get a chance to see it on programmes across the network at some point very soon. And in case you wondered, City defeated Spartans 1-0!

Colin and Document Scotland would like to thank Dan Curtis for making the film, Edinburgh City FC for being such generous hosts and the staff at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery for facilitating the filming.

‘Unsullied And Untarnished’ is photographic portrait of the people of the towns of the Scottish Borders who each year undertake the maintaining of tradition, commemorating their local history and at the same time strengthening the bonds of their communities looking forwards, during the annual Common Riding festivals of the summer months.

Braw Lassies and Honest Lads, Left Hand Lassies and Right Hand Men, Cornets, Hunters and Coldstreamers – all titles given to the upstanding youths who lead the festivities, and whose duty it is to carry the burgh or town standard around the common lands, and to “bring it back unsullied and untarnished”.

To accompany the 58 photographs Document Scotland’s Honorary Patron the Glasgow-born photojournalist Harry Benson has written a foreword, and Alex Massie, Scotland editor of The Spectator, has written a beautiful essay which explains the Common Riding festivals, and what they mean to the participants and communities involved.

“Some of these ridings and festivals are ancient, stretching back five centuries and more. Others are more modern but, whatever their roots and antiquity, they have something in common. They are annual gatherings of remembrance and celebration; affirmations that though these may be small places there is nothing small about coming from Kelso or Galashiels, Lauder or Langholm.” – Excerpt from essay, ‘Unsullied And Untarnished’, by Alex Massie.

“These festivals are not flashy, for the Border towns are not flashy places….They are an argument for the small places – none of the Border towns, not even Galashiels and Hawick can count as metropolises – and the importance and permanence of place. They maintain the golden threads that stretch back through the ages to a time when the world was a younger place. These festivals are the guardians and custodians of memory and without memory, what does identity matter?” – Excerpt from essay, ‘Unsullied And Untarnished’, by Alex Massie.

We were fortunate that during the opening night of our show in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery that two of Jeremy’s collaborators from the project made it along to see their portraits hanging on the wall of the show, which has been curated by Anne Lyden, the National Galleries’ International Curator for Photography.

Calum Moffat (left) and Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert at Document Scotland’s ‘The Ties That Bind’ exhibition, including ‘Unsullied And Untarnished’, at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Thursday, 24 September 2015.

Calum Moffat (above) made the journey from Jedburgh along with his family, and the next day was going to be presenting at his school a little talk on the project and the fact that his portrait made it to the gallery wall. Graham Hamilton (below), the ‘Braw Lad’ of Galashiels in 1989, kindly made it along also, standing by his portrait.

Graham Hamilton and Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert at Document Scotland’s ‘The Ties That Bind’ exhibition, including ‘Unsullied And Untarnished’ at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Thursday, 24 September 2015.

“Every Common Riding is unique yet, in this important respect, each is just the same as last year’s festivities. These are the permanent things; the ties that bind a people together, that insist upon the specialness of a particular small patch of Scotland. They are the things that make a difference, the things that matter most.

And if you listen carefully you will still hear the hoofbeats of history commanding us to remember and celebrate who we are and whence we have come.” – Excerpt from essay, ‘Unsullied And Untarnished’, by Alex Massie.

Created in collaboration with acclaimed digital masterminds Start Digital, who we enjoyed working with on our first Digital Magazine, ‘The Ties That Bind’ is an easy to download digital catalogue showcasing four projects, from the four members of Document Scotland.

We’ve been delighted to work again with the team at Start Digital. They created our first digital app for us, and since then we’ve really appreciated the versatility and impact of this digital platform. The layouts are clear and present Document Scotland’s images in a gallery layout. The audio and multimedia adds depth to projects elevating them above the simple layout of the ‘magazine page’ and into a multi dimensional experience. Interactive maps and evocative audio recordings add further complement the projects.

We hope that you will download and enjoy this exciting new digital publication –

This digital exhibition catalogue ‘Document Scotland: The Ties That Bind’ is available for download for Android and iOS devices from Google Play and the App Store.

Photographers

Submissions

We are keen to hear from other Scottish photographers, or photographers working in Scotland, and to see your documentary work. If you are interested in submitting work to be included on the site please contact us with a weblink to your images, bio/CV and synopsis of your work. We look forward to speaking, thank you.